Mobile trash-collecting and incinerating apparatus

ABSTRACT

A mobile device including a station for loading refuse, a station for physically reducing the refuse received from the loading station into smaller segments, a station for incinerating the reduced refuse, an ash station to receive the ashen remains of the incinerated refuse and a gas-exhaust station to carry off the hot gases emanating from the incinerating station. A plurality of rotary feeders are provided which move the refuse from the loading station, through the reducing station, through the incinerating station, and ultimately to the ash station. The gas exhaust station includes an afterburner to burn any incompletely combusted material which may rise with the hot gases from the incinerating station, and includes in addition a filter to thoroughly cleanse the hot gases before they are exhausted into the atmosphere.

[ 51 Jan. 18, i972 MOBILE TRASH-COLLECTING AND INCINERATING APPARATUS Louis Gottlieb, 7421 Woodbine Ave., Philadelphia, Pa. 19151 Dec. 29, 1969 Inventor:

Filed:

Appl. No.:

11.1.8. Cl. ..ll0/8A, 110/15 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Brandt et a1. ..l10/l8 s s a Primary Examiner-Kenneth W. Sprague Attorney-Edelson and Udell ABSTRACT A mobile device including a station for loading refuse, a station for physically reducing the refuse received from the loading station into smaller segments, a station for incinerating the reduced refuse, an ash station to receive the ashen remains of the incinerated refuse and a gas-exhaust station to carry ofi the hot gases emanating from the incinerating station. A plu rality of rotary feeders are provided which move the refuse from the loading station, through the reducing station, through the incinerating station, and ultimately to the ash station. The gas exhaust station includes an afterburner to burn any incompletely combusted material which may rise with the hot gases from the incinerating station, and includes in addition a filter to thoroughly cleanse the hot gases before they are exhausted into the atmosphere.

1 1 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures msman JAIN 8 1972 3,835,176

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E? g a f l l I P (i x r/wwme LOUIS GOTTLhEB 5V WWW MOBILE TRASH-COLLECTWG AND lNClNlERATlNG APPARATUS This invention relates generally to vehicles for receiving and incinerating refuse.

It has been recognized for many years that vehicles which remove refuse are limited in their utility by virtue of the capacity of the vehicle to hold the refuse which needs to be removed. A number of attempts have been made to provide such vehicles with crushing devices so that the refuse might be more efficiently packed into the vehicle, thereby enabling the user to get the maximum amount of refuse loaded into any given space. Although such vehicles are presently in use, it is quite apparent that such vehicles can only be loaded to a cer tain capacity before they must be driven to a dumping area where the refuse which has been packed into the vehicle must be removed.

There have been other attempts to provide vehicles with incinerator means whereby the refuse which is loaded into the vehicle is burned within the vehicle, and hence, theoretically, the capacity of the vehicle is greatly enhanced. However many of these proposals have been impractical and accordingly these arrangements have not been very well received. For instance, one such vehicle provides a loading device which carries the refuse to the top of the vehicle, and thereafter it is pushed by a pusher belt through an incinerator station where the refuse is theoretically burned and the hot gases are removed. In this particular scheme the burned refuse is urged along a second level of the truck below the initial incinerating level and is finally dumped into a third level removal station where a screwlike mechanism urges the burned material to the end of the truck from whence it is unloaded.

This last-described device has many shortcomings with respect to the kinds of refuse which are normally provided from the everyday household activity. Such a device is only successful with wet refuse, that is to say, refuse which contains no cans and no glass products such as the popular throwaway bottles, since there is a tendency for the device to become clogged by the cans and throwaway glass products which tend to deform and melt in the incinerator station, thus clogging up the pusher belt system and causing a backup of the refuse at the loading station. In circumstances when such types of refuse (i.e., cans and glass items) do pass both the first and second levels of incineration, it is apparent that if there were enough of such refuse the capacity of the vehicle would be limited to a great extent and the operation of the removal screw mechanism would be questionable.

In addition, in these prior art schemes, the exhaust fumes and gases have not been thoroughly cleansed and hence have been dumped into the atmosphere as pollution.

An object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle for removing and incinerating refuse which physically reduces the hard objects in the refuse, such as cans and throwaway glass items or any other hard" forms of refuse, thereby enhancing the refuse removal capacity of the vehicle.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle for removing and incinerating refuse which will continue to keep the refuse in a bumable position in the incinerator station until all burnables have been fully burned, thereby effectively reducing the refuse to ashen remains.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a transport system whereby the reduced and compacted refuse can be readily deposited into the final station without being subjected to the full transport of the incinerator station so that the possibility of clogging the incinerator station with melted glass and metal is substantially reduced.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an exhaust station for exhausting the hot gases from the incinerator station to the atmosphere wherein the combustible products in the exhaust has are burned and the residual unburned materials which may have been carried with the exhaust gases are filtered therefrom.

The features and objects of the present invention will become apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the figures wherein:

FIG. 1 is a central vertical longitudinal sectional view of the mobile trash-incinerating vehicle according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a horizontal sectional view taken along the lines 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional jump section taken along the line 33 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a side view of the present invention with the side wall removed to show the gear and chain arrangement for driving the various rotating feeder elements and generally taken along the line 44 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a horizontal sectional view showing the main structure of the exhaust chamber taken along the lines 5-5 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 6 is a schematic, showing the power transmission for driving the chain arrangement shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 2.

In the several figures, like elements are denoted by like reference characters.

Consider first FIG. l which shows a vehicle 11 having a drivers cab 12 and a utility unit 13 mounted on the chassis of the truck behind the cab 12, the utility unit 13 housing the invention.

The utility unit 13 has at the rear end a loading bucket 14 into which the refuse is placed from the street level, the loading bucket M being lifted upwardly to the position shown in phantom where the refuse is dumped into the reducing station 15. When the loading bucket is turned over to its empty-out position it comes to rest against bar 1'5 which is disposed so that the refuse in the loading bucket will be emptied by gravity into the reducing station 15. The bucket is flipped over as it approaches the upward end of its travel in the guide channel 17 by the turnover finger 18 as the latter is cammed against the extension 19 of the wall 20. The camming of the turnover finger 18 causes the bucket to be rotated over until it comes to rest on bar 16. While there is only one turnover finger 18 shown in FIG. 1, it is to be understood that other turnover fingers are provided along the axle 21 of the loading bucket 14. It should be further understood that extensions such as the extension 19 are provided for such additional turnover fingers to be cammed against.

The operation of lifting the loading bucket 14 is best understood from an examination of FIG. 2, 3 and 4 in which it is shown that the axle 21 is lifted upwardly in the guide channel 17 by the lift arms 22 and 22a as the latter is rotated around the studs 24 and 24a by the hydraulic jacks 25 and 25a which are connected to the lift arms by plu'ngers 26 and 26a and axles 27 and 27a. The lift arm 22 has an elongated slot 23 therein to accommodate its movement on the axle 21. It should be understood that while a hydraulic device 25 is shown as the drive mechanism for the lift arm 22 other forms of drive mechanisms such as electric motors or proper gear arrangements connected to the transmission of the engine of the vehicle itself could be used.

Returning to FIG. 1 it can be seen that when the refuse has been dumped into the reducing station 15, it is urged therealong by a pair of counterclockwise rotating feeders 28 and 29 having oppositely offset longitudinally extending edges to cup, or ladle, the refuse as the feeders move therethrough. The refuse is moved from the original position, into which it is dumped from the loading bucket 19, by the feeder 28 toward the feeder 29, and is picked up and fed by the feeder 29 into the rotating macerating reducer rolls 30, 31 and 32. Ad previously indicated, refuse usually contains empty tin cans, throwaway bottles or other glass material, and other materials which in general are considered hard types of refuse. When this refuse is moved into the position where it is picked up by the rotating reducing rolls 30, 31 and 32, these members crush and break up the glass material and deform and flatten the tin cans, and in general break up or flatten hard materials.

The reducers 30, 31 and 32 are moved and synchronized such that the arms of the reducers come together as shown by the arms 33 and 34, as well as the arms 35 and 36. Any material which is urged by the arms 33 and 35 toward the arms 34 and 36 ultimately is crushed, broken or flattened. The reducer rolls are fabricated from steel to be effective in tearing, fiattening and breaking the refuse, and not only crush, break, or flatten the refuse but also have a wiping effect whereby refuse material which tends to cling to these arms is wiped off by the cooperative movement of the arms coming together. The reducer rolls are synchronously geared by means of the gearbox 37 and driven from the vehicle transmission 38 through a power takeoff 39 and drive chain 40, as best seen in FIGS. 2 and 6.

Returning now to FIG. 1 it will be understood that as the crushed, broken or flattened refuse leaves the reducers 30, 31 and 32 it is picked up and urged forward by the feed gates 42, 43 and 44. The gates 42, 43 and 44 function both to move the macerated refuse into the incinerator 46 through the entrance opening 45, and to provide heat and fire-block-sealing gates to prevent back feed of heat to the trash inlet 15.

As the refuse falls into the incinerator chamber or station 46, it is urged along the top portion of the incinerator station 46 by the rotating grates 47 through 56. It should be understood that each of the rotating grates 47 through 56 with the exception of grate 55 rotates counterclockwise while the grate 55 rotates clockwise at higher speed than the other grates. As the rotating grates 47 through 51 come in contact with the refuse, the refuse is pushed upward toward the top wall 57 of the incinerator chamber and rearward through the upper section of the incinerator chamber. Between the platforms 58 through 62 the refuse is further urged back into the paths of the rotating upper grates 47 through 51 by the lower grates 52 through 56. By providing the grate 55 with a highspeed clockwise rotation, the refuse, which has had almost one complete excursion through the incinerator station, it turbulated and lifted, if it has not been completely burned, back into the upper portion of the incinerator, and if it is sufficiently large, such refuse will once again take that upper excursion through the incinerator for further burning. Accordingly, the refuse remains in the incinerator station until it is fully burned.

At each of the locations 63 there is a fuel jet and an igniter (not shown) for igniting the fuel as it enters the incinerator chamber 46 so that the incinerator station 46 is in a constant high-temperature refuse-burning state and is continually giving off combustion products as well as dropping out the burned ashes. The fuel and air mixture is fed to the jets 63 by fuel manifolds 64 and 64a, best seen in FIGS. 3 and 4, extending from the fuel chamber 65 which is shown both in FIGS. 1 and 2. The fuel jets 63 and igniters are conventional, and the igniters may take the form of electrical heating elements which are connected to the electrical power supply of the vehicle.

When the refuse has been burned in the incinerator 46 and has been reduced to a size sufficiently small such that it can no longer be urged along the normal feed path of the rotating grates these burned particles or ashes fall through the fixed bed grate 7 I into the pit 72 from which the ashes can be removed from the outside of the truck by lifting the door 73, shown in FIG. 4.

As the refuse burns in the incinerator 46, the hot gases are removed therefrom by the exhaust vents 65, 66, 67 and 68 which carry the exhaust gases up into the exhaust chamber 69. The exhaust vents 65 to 68 are seen in FIGS. 1 to 5.

As best seen in FIGS. 1 and 5, when the exhaust gases empty into the exhaust chamber 69 they are once again subjected to a burning action by high-velocity fuel burners 72 and 73 the fuel gases of which are ignited by the igniters 74 and 75. Hence, any unburned combustion products which make their way into the exhaust chamber 69 from the incinerator 46 are burned by this afterburner effect. The top wall or ceiling of the exhaust chamber 69 is fitted with a removable wet filter such as liquid wetted metal wool. Other. forms of filters can be used so long as they are made of materials which will withstand the hot temperatures of the exhaust chamber. As the exhaust gases go through the filter section 76, any remaining particles which have not been burned in the gases are removed, and the gas which is emptied into the atmosphere is clean and free of pollutants.

FIGS. 2, 3, 4 and 6 show the chain drive arrangement for the various rotary feeders and grates. As best seen in FIGS. 4 and 6 the power chain drive 77 which drives all of the other chain mechanisms is driven through a power takeoff 77a from the vehicle transmission 38. The chain 77 drives the gear 78a commonly axled with gear 78 which in turn drives the chain 79 which is drivingly trained about the gears 80 through 88, each of which gears is fixed upon the axles which drive the rotating grates 47 through 56 in the incinerator station. The idler gears 89 keep the chain 79 taut. It will be noted that the chain 79 passes over the gear 88 on the upper side of the latter which causes the gear 88 and hence the grate 55 to rotate counter to the other grates in the incinerator. Moreover, the diameter of gear 88 is substantially smaller than that of the gears which drive the other grates, and accordingly the grate 55 rotates at correspondingly higher speed.

The gear 84 is commonly axled with a gear 90 about which drive chain 91 is trained extending upward about a gear 92 commonly axled with gear 93 upon the shaft of feeder gate 28. Trained about gear 93 and gear 94 on the axle of feeder gate 29 is a chain 95 by means of which the latter feeder gate is rotated. .loumaled on the same shaft as gear 95 is a second gear 96 about which is trained a drive chain 97 which drives feed gate 42. Drive chains 98 and 99 intercouple feed gate 42 with feed gates 43 and 44 to effect and control rotation of the latter. The arms of the feed gates 42, 43 and 44 are so positioned that effective blockage of heat and combustion products from the incinerator is achieved.

Finally, in FIG. 2 there is shown a control box 100 which is located within the reach. of the operator who stands at the street level, the control box being connected to the electrical power supply of the truck and to the pump 10] for the hydraulic jacks 25 and 25a, as well as to the igniters located at the fuel ignition devices 63 and 65 in the incinerating station 46, and exhaust station 69. When the operator has loaded the refuse in the bucket 14 he pushes a button on the control box 100 which causes the pump of the hydraulic jacks 25 and 25a to operate thus lifting the loading bucket 14. Thereafter the operator actuates a second switch to actuate the burners and igniters thereby igniting the fuel in station 46 and 69 to effect respectively the incineration and after burning.

It will be observed from FIG. 1 that the reducing station is directly above the incinerating station, and it will be appreciated that the intervening wall can be so constructed as to transmit substantial quantities of heat to the reducing station. Such heat-transmission aids in drying refuse containing quantities of water or other liquids, and also acts as a dessicant for dry refuse prior to deposition thereof into the incinerator. If desired a blower may also be utilized to circulate such heated air through the incinerator inlet to also aid in confining combustion gases.

What is claimed to be new and useful is:

l. A transportable utility unit to be used with an automotive vehicle for receiving and incinerating refuse comprising in combination:

a. loading means to receive refuse and operative to deliver said refuse to a reducing station for processing;

b. a reducing station including feeder means operative to move refuse from said loading means through said reducing station and macerating means for reducing said refuse to relatively small segments for rapid combustion;

c. an incinerating station having an inlet to receive the reduced refuse from said reducing station first and second refuse-moving means, an outlet into which the incinerated refuse is discharged, means for producing high temperatures effective to oxidize said refuse by combustion, said first refuse-moving means being operative to move refuse through said incinerating station from said inlet to said outlet and said second refuse moving means being operative to move said refuse for a second or more excursions through said incinerating station if said refuse has not been substantially incinerated;

d. a treatment station effective to remove substantially all incomplete combustion products from the combustion gases; and

3. transfer means operative to transfer the combustion gases from said incinerating station to said treatment station.

2. A utility unit according to claim ll wherein said first means includes a plurality of rotatable feeders each of which is rotated in a first sense, and wherein said second means includes a rotatable feeder which is rotated in a second sense, said last mentioned rotatable feeder being disposed such that refuse which is moved thereby is moved into the path of refuse being moved by said first mentioned rotatable feeders.

3. A utility unit according to claim 2 wherein said second means rotatable feeder is rotated at higher speed than and counter to said first means rotatable feeders to turbulate and break up the refuse.

4. A utility unit according to claim 2 wherein said second means rotatable feeder is rotated at higher speed than and counter to said first means rotatable feeders to turbulate and break up the refuse, and at least said first means rotatable feeders are rotatable grates.

5. A utility unit according to claim 2 further including shelf means disposed with respect to some of said first-mentioned feeders to temporarily hold refuse thereon to be moved therefrom by others of said feeders.

6. A transportable utility effective to be used with an automotive vehicle for receiving and incinerating refuse comprising in combination:

a. loading means to receive refuse and operative to deliver said refuse to a reducing station for processing;

b. a reducing station including feeder means operative to move refuse from said loading means through said reducing station and macerating means for reducing said refuse to relatively small segments for rapid combustion;

c. an incinerating station having an inlet to receive the reduced refuse from said reducing station and an outlet into which the incinerated refuse is discharged, and means for producing high temperatures effective to oxidize said refuse by combustion;

d. a treatment station effective to remove substantially all incomplete combustion products from the combustion gases, said treatment station comprising a chamber and means for producing high temperatures therein to complete the combustion of incomplete combustion products carried by the combustion gases from said incinerating station, and means for thereafter discharging the exhaust gases into the atmosphere through a chemi cally treated wet bed filter; and

e. transfer means operative to transfer the combustion gases from said incinerating station to said treatment station.

7. A utility unit according to claim 6 wherein said macerat ing reducing means includes at least first and second movable members having meshing protrusions extending therefrom which crush and rend the refuse which enters therebetween.

8. A utility unit according to claim 6 wherein at least a part of said reducing station feeder means for moving said refuse therethrough provides a seal against baclrflow of exhaust gases emanating from said incinerating station.

9. A utiltiy unit according to claim 6 wherein said treatment station is disposed above said reducing station, and wherein said transfer means transfers said combustion gases from said incinerating station to said treatment station by flue means.

it). A utility unit according to claim 6 wherein said incinerating station means for producing high temperatures comprises a plurality of fuel burners discharging flame into said incinerating station and fuel supply means connected thereto.

111. A transportable utility unit to be used with an automotive vehicle for receiving and incinerating refuse comprising in combination:

a. loading means to receive refuse and operative to deliver said refuse to areducing station for processing; b. a reducing station Including 1. feeder means operative to move refuse from said loading means through said reducing station and feed the refuse into the inlet of an incinerating station, at least a part of said feeder means providing a seal against backflow of exhaust gases emanating from the incinerating station,

2. macerating means for physically reducing said refuse to relatively small segments, said macerating means comprising at least first and second relatively rotatable members having meshing protrusions extending therefrom which crush and rend the refuse which enters therebetween,

c. an incinerating station chamber disposed below said reducing station and having,

I. an inlet to receive the reduced refuse from said reducing station,

2. an outlet into which the incinerated refuse is discharged,

3. means for producing high temperatures within said chambers effective to rapidly oxidize said refuse by combustion, and

4. a plurality of rotatable feeder grates rotated in a first sense to move the refuse through the said incinerating chamber from said inlet to said outlet, and rotatable feeder means rotated at higher speed than and counter to said plurality of feeder grates to turbulate and break up the refuse and recirculate incompletely incinerated portions thereof back through said chamber,

d. a treatment station disposed above said reducing station effective to remove substantially all incomplete combustion products from the exhaust gases of said incinerating station, said treatment station comprising,

i. a treatment chamber 2. means for producing high temperatures in said treatment chamber effective to complete the combustion of incomplete combustion products contained in the exhaust gases from said incineratin g station, and

3. a filter through which pass to the outside atmosphere the recombusted gases from the treatment chamber e. transfer means effective to transfer said combustion exhaust gases from said incinerating station to said treatment station. 

1. A transportable utility unit to be used with an automotive vehicle for receiving and incinerating refuse comprising in combination: a. loading means to receive refuse and operative to deliver said refuse to a reducing station for processing; b. a reducing station including feeder means operative to move refuse from said loading means through said reducing station and macerating means for reducing said refuse to relatively small segments for rapid combustion; c. an incinerating station having an inlet to receive the reduced refuse from said reducing station first and second refuse-moving means, an outlet into which the incinerated refuse is discharged, means for producing high temperatures effective to oxidize said refuse by combustion, said first refuse-moving means being operative to move refuse through said incinerating station from said inlet to said outlet and said second refuse moving means being operative to move said refuse for a second or more excursions through said incinerating station if said refuse has not been substantially incinerated; d. a treatment station effective to remove substantially all incomplete combustion products from the combustion gases; and
 3. transfer means operative to transfer the combustion gases from said incinerating station to said treatment station.
 2. means for producing high temperatures in said treatment chamber effective to complete the combustion of incomplete combustion products contained in the exhaust gases from saiD incinerating station, and
 2. macerating means for physically reducing said refuse to relatively small segments, said macerating means comprising at least first and second relatively rotatable members having meshing protrusions extending therefrom which crush and rend the refuse which enters therebetween, c. an incinerating station chamber disposed below said reducing station and having,
 2. an outlet into which the incinerated refuse is discharged,
 2. A utility unit according to claim 1 wherein said first means includes a plurality of rotatable feeders each of which is rotated in a first sense, and wherein said second means includes a rotatable feeder which is rotated in a second sense, said last mentioned rotatable feeder being disposed such that refuse which is moved thereby is moved into the path of refuse being moved by said first mentioned rotatable feeders.
 3. A utility unit according to claim 2 wherein said second means rotatable feeder is rotated at higher speed than and counter to said first means rotatable feeders to turbulate and break up the refuse.
 3. means for producing high temperatures within said chambers effective to rapidly oxidize said refuse by combustion, and
 3. a filter through which pass to the outside atmosphere the recombusted gases from the treatment chamber e. transfer means effective to transfer said combustion exhaust gases from said incinerating station to said treatment station.
 3. transfer means operative to transfer the combustion gases from said incinerating station to said treatment station.
 4. a plurality of rotatable feeder grates rotated in a first sense to move the refuse through the said incinerating chamber from said inlet to said outlet, and rotatable feeder means rotated at higher speed than and counter to said plurality of feeder grates to turbulate and break up the refuse and recirculate incompletely incinerated portions thereof back through said chamber, d. a treatment station disposed above said reducing station effective to remove substantially all incomplete combustion products from the exhaust gases of said incinerating station, said treatment station comprising,
 4. A utility unit according to claim 2 wherein said second means rotatable feeder is rotated at higher speed than and counter to said first means rotatable feeders to turbulate and break up the refuse, and at least said first means rotatable feeders are rotatable grates.
 5. A utility unit according to claim 2 further including shelf means disposed with respect to some of said first-mentioned feeders to temporarily hold refuse thereon to be moved therefrom by others of said feeders.
 6. A transportable utility effective to be used with an automotive vehicle for receiving and incinerating refuse comprising in combination: a. loading means to receive refuse and operative to deliver said refuse to a reducing station for processing; b. a reducing station including feeder means operative to move refuse from said loaDing means through said reducing station and macerating means for reducing said refuse to relatively small segments for rapid combustion; c. an incinerating station having an inlet to receive the reduced refuse from said reducing station and an outlet into which the incinerated refuse is discharged, and means for producing high temperatures effective to oxidize said refuse by combustion; d. a treatment station effective to remove substantially all incomplete combustion products from the combustion gases, said treatment station comprising a chamber and means for producing high temperatures therein to complete the combustion of incomplete combustion products carried by the combustion gases from said incinerating station, and means for thereafter discharging the exhaust gases into the atmosphere through a chemically treated wet bed filter; and e. transfer means operative to transfer the combustion gases from said incinerating station to said treatment station.
 7. A utility unit according to claim 6 wherein said macerating reducing means includes at least first and second movable members having meshing protrusions extending therefrom which crush and rend the refuse which enters therebetween.
 8. A utility unit according to claim 6 wherein at least a part of said reducing station feeder means for moving said refuse therethrough provides a seal against backflow of exhaust gases emanating from said incinerating station.
 9. A utiltiy unit according to claim 6 wherein said treatment station is disposed above said reducing station, and wherein said transfer means transfers said combustion gases from said incinerating station to said treatment station by flue means.
 10. A utility unit according to claim 6 wherein said incinerating station means for producing high temperatures comprises a plurality of fuel burners discharging flame into said incinerating station and fuel supply means connected thereto.
 11. A transportable utility unit to be used with an automotive vehicle for receiving and incinerating refuse comprising in combination: a. loading means to receive refuse and operative to deliver said refuse to a reducing station for processing; b. a reducing station including 